Chinese carriers seek rights to Europe, North Asia

Five Chinese carriers have filed applications with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), seeking rights to operate new routes to European cities and points in North Asia.

Juneyao Airlines and Capital Airlines each filed two applications. Juneyao seeks rights to operate a thrice-weekly service from Shanghai Pudong to Manchester in March 2020, its second destination in the United Kingdom after it applied to operate Shanghai Pudong-London in July this year.

While it will be the only airline flying Shanghai Pudong-Manchester, it is not the first Chinese carrier to fly into Manchester. Cirium’s schedules data shows that Hainan Airlines flies Beijing-Manchester four times a week.

Juneyao also applied to operate Shanghai Pudong-Athens thrice weekly from March next year. Air China is currently the only other Chinese carrier that flies between China and the Greek city — it flies thrice weekly from Beijing.

Meanwhile, Capital Airlines applied to launch thrice-weekly flights between Qingdao and Okinawa in July this year. It is also seeking CAAC approval to increase frequencies, by one additional day, for its Beijing-Xian-Lisbon flights.

China Eastern Airlines applied to the CAAC to fly to its second Italian city. It is hoping to fly Wenzhou-Milan twice weekly, in October this year. Cirium’s schedules data shows that China Eastern currently operates a daily service between Rome and Shanghai Pudong.

Other applications made to the CAAC include Shenzhen Airlines for a daily Nanning-Okinawa service in June, as well as Donghai Airlines for a thrice-weekly Shenzhen-Lianyungang-Jeju service in July.

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